Saturday, August 25, 2007

In a new place...at the start of a new life...

Ok so there hasn't been a single post in here for over 2 months - and its not like it has been a particularly busy two months. Rather the most free two months i can ever remember :)
I think I became a bit of a lazy ass and couldnt be bothered doing much apart from vegetate on the couch (which probably explain the bit of weight I have put on in that period...lol!)

So what have I been doing in these two months. Pretty much was a transition period between what was and what will be. I quit work (which was a lot harder than I thought - funny that till 2 weeks before leaving I was counting down the days, but in the last two weeks I just didnt want to go. I still miss work - well not the actual work but my workmates with who I probably spent more hours laughing and chatting rather than working!). After that I was pretty much home all through - I figured its unlikely I will get an opportunity to be a total bum for a long long time (if ever) so might as well make full use of it. Between that however I spent one of the best weekends ever with five of my closest friends in Australia (made me realise that while we may move on there are some friends who just get you - and without whom you probably wouldnt be the person you are today. I miss those friends like crazy now).

Anyway so enough talk about missing (especially since the title of this post in 'a new place')!!

So here I am - away from my lovely new zealand - in the 'big bad' US of A. So I've been here about 3 weeks now - and its not quite as 'bad' as I might have thought - though the big certainly applies - everything is huuuuge - houses, roads, cars, portion sizes in restaurants! Boston was lovely - New York (what i saw of it) was just big and mad (in a good way..hehe) - and here I am now in chicago - my home for at least the next two years.

My first impression of chicago - i loved it! Lived downtown the first night - walked around the lake - there were fireworks, there was live music - it was all brilliant - put me in a great mood...and I'm so happy I made this decision. As for the campus - i have only one thing to say - there's a beach!! well sorta...hehe...but that just made my day! :)

Moved into my new place a day or so ago - so just been struggling with suitcases and boxes. My first venture into doing things for myself...hehe...no mommy around to help anymore!! Mind you I had loads of help from my uncle and aunt who have just been amazing - dont know how I would have survived this move without them (and my two adorable cousins too!).

Anyway so here I am...all's good so far...unpacking is a major pain but I think i'll survive! Just never knew you needed so much stuff to set up a place. Think i'd started taking life for granted a little bit!! Met a few people around campus already - and everyone's been so nice - looking forward to starting the degree for sure. But the other thing is - everyone seems bloody smart - I feel like a bit of a misfit and am totally freaked out about how I will cope. Oh well...we'll have to see I guess.

I was a pretty nervous about this move - but things have started to fall in place - and I think i'll be ok. Now I just have a few things to worry about - lose this extra weight from my 2 vegetating months, get used to non metric values (they're soooo illogical) and the biggest problem of them all - try not to get run over while crossing the road - why do the americans have to do everything differently anyway?? :)